


Fool Me Twice

by inquisitorsnappy



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 02:50:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9696404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitorsnappy/pseuds/inquisitorsnappy
Summary: December 2nd, 1999, the Arisato twins were orphaned in a tragic accident. Ten years later, they return to the city where it happened, Iwatodai, as transfer students but things don't quite sit right. The strange phenomenon that occurs each midnight seems suddenly more relevant, there's a mysterious illness and the students living in the same dorm as them that seem suspiciously secretive. They try to go about their day-to-day school life but it doesn't take long for things to reach a point where they are dragged right into something they can't get out of.





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my best friend for helping me come up with a title for this thing because i'm bad at naming things and he isn't

6/4/2009, Late Evening

A teenager with blue hair stood by the train door to the carriage he was in. Ignoring his surroundings, staring blindly out of the window, keeping a tight hold of whis duffel bag. He'd prefer to keep his belongings with him. His pale face was expressionless, no emotion showing.  
"Attention passengers. We apologise sincerely for any inconvenience caused by the delay. The next stop is Iwatodai."  
The announcement crackled through every speaker throughout the train. The boy remained staring out the window, music blaring in his headphones. A hand shook his shoulder. He turned at took one headphone off. A brown haired girl, also wearing headphones and carrying a bag stood behind him, a small smile on her face.  
"We'll be there soon, Minato," she said.  
"I'm not deaf. I heard the announcement," he said, looking at her blankly.  
She frowned. "Could have fooled me, little brother. You never take those damn headphones out."  
"We're twins, Hamuko."  
"I'm still older."  
"By twelve minutes."  
"Still older."  
Minato sighed.  
   
The train station, just like the train, wasn't very busy. Barely anyone was travelling, considering how late it was.  
"You got that map?" Hamuko asked. Minato nodded and took it out from his bag. Despite having lived in Iwatodai before, it'd been just over nine years since then so his memory of the place was vague at best. It was likely that the same could be said for Hamuko. He had drawn a circle around the dorm they would be living in. Using that, he began figuring out a route there. Hamuko leaned across to see the map clearly in a way that irritated him to no end.  
"Personal space," Minato said.  
"Oh, sorry." Hamuko moved so that she was just merely stood next to him.  
   
The music in his headphones stopped suddenly. Looking up, he acknowledged the change in atmosphere. The eerie green tint had fallen over the city, the almost full moon in the sky was much larger than before and all technology had shut down. Unfazed, he returned to plotting their way to their new home. Hamuko was looking out into the streets before looking to Minato.  
"I didn't realise how late it was," she said. "Shit timing, really. I wanted to listen to my music."  
"Deal with it," Minato said unsympathetically. "Let's get to the dorm."  
   
Glancing around, they caught sight of coffins standing upright in various places. Minato recalled that before the hour struck, people were where the coffins now stood. Now, he and Hamuko were alone in the station.  
"W-what the hell?" Hamuko stammered. "What are these doing here?!"  
Minato was surprised by how horrified she was. "They're just coffins."  
She spun on her heel and glared at him. "Just coffins?! Minato, coffins hold dead bodies! How does that not freak you the hell out?!"  
"This is normal," he said. "You're unfazed by the big green moon. Why would coffins in the street bother you?"  
Hamuko looked at him, disturbed by how unaffected he was. "You're nuts."  
"Not really," he shrugged. "Let's go."  
"F-fine..." she mumbled.  
   
The twins set off from the train station and made their way through the streets. Hamuko stayed close to Minato. He ignored the sight of the coffins and went along the roads, glancing at the map every now and then to ensure they were going the correct way. Hamuko made attempt at conversations every now and then but with every attempt, Minato said nothing, she'd sigh and wait some minutes before trying again. Eventually, she just gave up and they made the rest of their way in silence.  
   
They looked up at the building. Four stories high and rather fancy by their standards.  
"Big place." Hamuko grinned. "I think I'm gonna like it here."  
Minato shrugged. They walked up the front steps and opened the door. The first floor was one big room. The lounge was to the right of the door at the front of the dorm whilst towards the back was the dining table and kitchen. To his left was counter, separating a desk and a larger window from the rest of the room. Hamuko walked further into the room, admiring the place.  
"You're late," a voice said. Minato looked to his left. A young boy in striped pyjamas, dark hair and blue eyes, stood on the other side of the counter, leaning on it with crossed arms. He looked up at Minato is an child-like manner. "I've been waiting a long time for you."  
   
The boy clicked his fingers and was now stood in front of him.  
"Now, if you want to proceed," he gestured to the counter. "Please sign your name there."  
Minato looked at it. A leather back cover that certainly wasn't there before opened, revealing a piece of paper inside.   
"It's a contract," the boy said. "Don't worry. All it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know; the usual stuff."  
Minato nodded, picked up the pen that was conveniently next to the contract and carefully wrote out his name in clear, Japanese characters. The boy took the now-signed contract and closed it. He held it up in front of his face, covering one of his eyes.  
"No one can escape time," he said. "It delivers us all to the same end." He turned the the leather cover and it suddenly disappeared from his hand. "You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes." The boy closed his eyes and reached his hand out to Minato. "And so it begins."  
And he was gone.  
   
"Minato?" He looked at Hamuko who suddenly looked less enthused. "Were you even listening to me?"  
"No," he said. "That boy asked me to sign something."  
"Boy? What boy?" she said, looking very confused.  
"Didn't you see-"  
"Who's there?!" He was cut off by a voice coming from the steps. Hamuko spun around to see who it was. The twins saw a uniformed girl in the shadows, alarmed and had what was seemingly a gun holstered on her leg. "How can you be-? But it's- " The girl was clearly not expecting their arrival at all.

Without warning, she reached for her gun.


	2. A New Home

6/4/2009, Dark Hour  
  
Yukari sat to one of the tables, looking at the clock. It remained unmoving due to when in the day it was. She'd been aware of everything for a while now but it was still unnerving. No, that's an understatement. It was still terrifying. And to think what she needed to do in order to defend herself within all the chaos. Yukari still couldn't bring herself to do it, no matter how hard she tried.  
_I can do this._ She told herself. _Just aim at my head and pull the trigger._ And yet, she had still to succeed. She would always lose her nerve and drop the damn thing to the ground. Yukari was angry at herself for being unable to do it. _Coward._  
   
Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted when she heard a noise from downstairs. Yukari stood up immediately, scared as to what it was down there. The noise had been the opening of a door and now she could hear voices. Something had come into the dorm. Yukari rushed downstairs to the 1st floor to investigate.  
   
"Who's there?!" She yelled out when she reached the bottom of the staircase. The two figures looked to her suddenly. She was surprised to see two high school students standing in front of her. She didn't understand how they could be there. "How can you be-? But it's-" She thought aloud.  
The boy looked at her with an expressionless face whilst the girl beside him was clearly alarmed. Judging from where she was looking, she had noticed the holster on Yukari's leg. Breathing heavily, she quickly reached towards the holster. _I can do this._  
"Takeba, wait!" Yukari spun around at the sound of Mitsuru's voice. The older student stood behind her.  
"But they're-" She stopped herself when the lights suddenly came on again. Both girls knew that meant it'd be safe now even with these two unfamiliar students here. Mitsuru approached the visitors.  
   
"I didn't think you'd arrive so late," She said. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."  
Yukari remained confused. "Who're they?"  
"Transfer students. It was a last minute decision to assign the two of them here. They'll eventually be moved to rooms in the normal dorm." Mitsuru explained.  
"...Is it okay for them to be here?" Yukari asked, visibly concerned by their presence.  
"I guess we'll see," Mitsuru smiled. She looked to the new students again and gestured to Yukari. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you two."  
"...Hi. I'm Yukari," she introduced herself awkwardly.   
The female student enthusiastically stuck her hand out. "Hi. I'm Hamuko Arisato. This is Minato, my brother. It's nice to meet you."  
Yukari was taken aback by the sudden friendliness from her. Cautiously, she took Hamuko's hand and shook it. "Uh, y-yeah..." she stumbled on her words slightly. "Nice to meet you too..."  
"It's getting late. Girls rooms are on the third floor whilst boys are on the second. You'll find your respective rooms there, at the end of each hall," Mitsuru explained. "Your things should already be there. I suggest you tuck in for the night."  
"I'll show you the way. Follow me," Yukari said. Both Hamuko and Minato nodded and proceeded to follow her up the stairs.   
   
At the top of the first set of stairs was a hallway. Yukari pointed down to the end of the hall. "Minato-san, your room is at the end of the hall on the right side." she explained, handing the key for it to Minato. She expected a verbal response but he merely nodded and walked down to his room. Yukari frowned slightly at this but decided not to complain. Odds are the journey had left him very tired. Hamuko didn't continue up the stairs until she saw Minato walk into the room. Yukari then led her up to the third floor to show her which room she'd be living in until the accommodation issue was solved.  
   
"And this is your room," Yukari announced as she handed Hamuko the key. "Like Minato-san's, it's right at the end of the hall so it should be pretty easy to remember."  
Hamuko smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I can agree with that."  
Yukari thought for a moment and decided to ask. "Hey, when you and your brother were heading down here from the station...was everything okay?"  
"Uh...yeah," Hamuko said, somewhat hesitantly. "Why wouldn't it be?"  
Yukari wasn't convinced. "You know what I-" _Maybe she really didn't see anything._ "...Never mind."  
Hamuko smiled again. "By the way, I think I should apologise in advance for Minato. He's a bit...what's the word?"  
"Rude?" Yukari suggested.  
"Nah, well, not intentionally. He prefers to keep to himself so he might seem rude if you try talking to him," Hamuko said. "Please don't take it personally. It's just how he is. He's not a people person by _any_ stretch of the imagination."  
"Okay then, I'll keep that in mind," Yukari nodded. "Well, I'm sure you have other questions but you should probably save them for a day-ish part of the day. I'll leave you be, okay? Goodnight."  
"G'night," Hamuko said. Yukari walked down the hall and down the stairs and Hamuko retreated into her room. It was late and sleep would be welcome.


	3. Welcome

7/4/2009, Early Morning  
  
Hamuko was sat at her dressing table, carefully arranging the clips in her hair to make a roman numeral 22. Yukari had woken her up not too long ago and told her that Mitsuru had asked her to walk the twins to school. Hamuko was a little baffled by this. They were sixteen. Heck, they'd be seventeen in just three months, to the day. They weren't children that required to be coddled and escorted.   
  
Noticing the time, Hamuko quickly grabbed her orange backpack and headed downstairs. Minato and Yukari were stood near the door, Yukari attempting to make small talk. Minato only responded with single words, nods and shrugs. Hamuko could practically sense the awkwardness.  
"Oh, hey Hamuko-san. Shall we get going then?" Yukari said.  
Hamuko smiled. "Alright then."  
  
The trip to school was much more interesting than any other trips to school she'd been on. Usual it was just a walk through the neighbourhood that took no longer than half an hour. But here? It was very different. The school was at Tatsumi Port Island, a man-made island that required a monorail over the sea to reach. It wasn't a particularly long train journey but it was worth noting. After reaching Port Island Station, they walked the rest of the way to get to their school; Gekkoukan High.  
  
Looking at the place, the school was huge. Much larger than any other school she'd been to. Since she left Iwatodai when she was seven, Hamuko had been living in more rural areas with much smaller schools. It was strange enough moving into a large city but a large school as well? It was busy too. Vast numbers of students, some alone and others in groups, made their way in. Yukari greeted a few people as they were heading in, presumably her friends. She noticed some people looking at her and her brother with surprise. Hamuko could only guess it was because they didn't recognise them. Hamuko looked across to Minato. He looked blankly at the whole thing. Nudging him in the arm, she shot a grin to him.  
"This place looks like fun, little brother."  
He sighed. "We're still twins, Hamuko."  
  
Yukari stopped by the lockers in the entrance.  
"You two'll be okay from here, right?" she said. She pointed to a corridor to the right. "The Faculty Office is down there."  
Hamuko nodded. "Okay then. Thank you, Takeba."  
"Any questions? I mean, you'd probably be better off asking at the Faculty Office but still," Yukari said.  
"No," Minato said. "Come on, Hamuko."  
He started heading in the direction Yukari had pointed to before. Hamuko frowned at him.  
"Sorry about that. Anyway, I'll talk to you later, Takeba. Thanks!" she said before rushing off to catch up with her brother.  
"Hey, wait!" Hamuko stopped when Yukari called for her. "About what happened yesterday..."  
"What about it?" Hamuko tilted her head in confusion.  
"Can you not tell anyone about it? Please?"  
Hamuko nodded. "Of course."  
"Thanks," Yukari smiled. "Okay, see you!"  
  
Minato knocked on the door of the office and waited for a response from the other side. The door opened, revealing a woman in a pink suit that was presumably a teacher. She looked at him and Hamuko.  
"Oh, are you the new students?" She looked through the file in her hands. "Hamuko Arisato and Minato Arisato. Both in 11th grade, correct? Come inside for a moment."  
The twins did as they were told. The teacher flipped through the file again. They noticed that it was actually two files, one for each of them. "Wow, the two of you have lived in a lot of different places. Though it's strange that you've hardly lived together. You _are_ twins, right?" she remarked, looking above the file at them.  
Hamuko nodded. "Yeah, we are. None of our relatives could take of both of us at the same time so we were always separate."  
"That's a shame." She looked at the files again. "Let's see...in 1999..." Hamuko clenched her fist, not exactly wanting the reminder. "That was, what, ten years ago? Your parents..." The teacher cut herself off with a gasp. She gave a sympathetic look to both of them. "I'm sorry. I've been so busy I didn't have time to read these beforehand."  
Hamuko forced a smile. "It's okay, miss. I understand that teachers will have a lot on their hands, especially at the start of the year."  
The teacher was taken aback. "Yes...well, moving on. I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school."  
"Nice to meet you!" Hamuko grinned.  
"Such enthusiasm! We could use more go-getters like you." Toriumi said. She looked to Minato, half-expecting a response. He said nothing. She decided not to call him out on it. "Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're both in 2-F; that's my class."  
"We're in the same class?" Hamuko asked, smiling at Minato who just sighed.  
"Yes, that would be the case," Toriumi confirmed. "But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The welcoming ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."  
  
The principal's opening speech was starting to drag. Hamuko found herself looking at the clock every five minutes to find that in reality, only one minute had passed. She sighed and leaned her head back. She forced herself to not close her eyes, knowing exactly how easy it'd be to fall asleep at this rate. The principal had one of those droning voices that did that. Hamuko instead tried listening to the other students chitchat around her. Her and Minato were sat with people from the same class so she thought it best to at least get used to them.  
"Hey dude, you heard about the new transfer students, right?" one boy said. "Apparently they both came to school with Yukari-san this morning!"  
"I know, man! Everyone is talking about it!" Another boy said.  
Hamuko sighed inwardly.  _Rumours. Fucking fantastic._ Thinking about it, rumours were going to be difficult to deal with here. The school was much larger and damage control would be tough. She sighed again as she heard other mutterings about how she and her brother came into school with the beloved Yukari Takeba.  
Minato nudged her shoulder. "Ignore them."   
"I am doing. Thanks, though."  
"I hear talking!" A teacher on the side said. "I think it's from Ms. Toriumi's class."  
With that, Toriumi spoke up. "Be quiet or you'll get me in trouble."  
Everyone shut up and went back to pretending to pay attention to the Principal's speech.


	4. First Day

7/4/2009, After School

Hamuko was surprised that school was over already. The day had gone by quickly. If anything, she was disappointed. She sighed. Oh well. It was an alright day. Toriumi was a nice teacher for homeroom. Some of the other teachers were a bit...weird. Their maths teacher, Miyahara, had an afro, held up set-squares above her head and talked about how aesthetically pleasing numbers were instead of actually teaching them maths and Ono, their history teacher, just wanted to talk about samurai. Not quite what she was expecting but it's better than their Classic Literature teacher. Ekoda was clearly an asshole. The rest were relatively 'normal' in comparison. Hamuko couldn't complain though. Things were more interesting than they were at previous schools.

When Hamuko turned behind her to face Minato, a student in a baseball cap had approached. She was surprised at how he was getting away with some pretty obvious neglect to the uniform rules. No tie and his shirt was the wrong colour. The hat just topped it off, if anything. Hamuko recognised him as the boy who was seated behind her.  
"Sup dude?!" He said, rather loudly, standing too close for Minato's comfort. "How's it goin'?"  
"Personal space," Minato said.  
"Heh, you look like a deer in headlights!" the student said. He turned and looked at Hamuko. "You're the other transfer student, right?"  
She nodded with a smile. "Yup. Hamuko Arisato. This is my brother, Minato."  
"Huh? Wait, you guys are brother and sister?!"  
"Yes." Minato said. "Who are you?"  
"Me? I'm Junpei Iori," the student introduced himself. "I transferred here when I was in 8th grade. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid. So I wanted to say 'hey'. See what a nice guy I am?" he grinned.  
Minato looked at him blankly, unimpressed that he hadn't moved at least slightly further away from him. "Personal space."

When Junpei glanced to his side, he caught sight of Yukari, glaring at him.  
"Oh hey, It's Yuka-tan," Junpei said as he rubbed the back of his head. Am awkward laugh escaped him. "I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."At it again, huh? I swear you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen," she sighed. "Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"  
"What? But I was just bein' friendly!" he insisted.  
Hamuko stood up. "It's okay, Takeba. I don't mind."  
"If you say so." She didn't seem convinced. Looking at the two twins, she smiled awkwardly. "Anyway, looks like we're all in the same homeroom."  
"Coincidence," Minato said. Hamuko could only her eyes at how clearly he was missing Yukari's attempts at being friendly. _C'mon brother, lighten up a bit.  
_ "Yeah, I know. But still. I was surprised."

"Um, hellooo?" Junpei waved his arms slightly. "Are you _forgetting_ that I'm in this class too? By the way, do you guys all know each other? I heard you came to school together this morning."  
Yukari shook her head slightly. "We live in the same dorm, is all. They arrived pretty late last night though so it's not like I've known them for very long." She quickly shot a glare at Junpei. "So no jumping to any conclusions, Stupei!"  
"I wasn't gonna!" Junpei said, quickly leaping to his own defence.  
"Sure you weren't," she said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I gotta go and take care of some stuff for the archery team. You better not start any rumours."

As she left, Junpei sighed in irritation. "Who the hell cares? Nobody takes rumours seriously anyway."  
"Pretty sure they do," Hamuko said, standing up. "Or at least they have done at every other school I've been to."  
"Eh, if you say so," He shrugged. "But hey, it's you guys's first day here and people are already talkin' about you!"  
"Not necessarily good," Minato said. "I'm going home. Unless you're coming, sister, I'll see you at the dorm."  
"Oh," Hamuko mumbled in disappointment. "Okay then..."  
Minato nodded, grabbed his bag and made his way out of the classroom in silence.  
"What's up with him?" Junpei asked, confused.  
"Nothing. He's just like that," she sighed. "You get used to it. Trust me."

 Hamuko couldn't help but be disheartened. She had been hoping to spend time and talk to him in hopes that his utter silence the day before was just him being tired. Wishful thinking, really. Minato had never taken time out of the day to talk to her before. Why would them living together again change that? He was going to shut her out, just like he shut everyone out. _Damn it, Minato..._

She turned to Junpei. "You busy?"  
He shook his head. "Why? You wanna do somethin'?"  
"Sure, why not?" Hamuko smiled. "Your choice. I need to get to know this city again."  
"Alright, I'm down with that," he grinned. "This is gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!"  
Hamuko chuckled. "You know what? I think you're right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm aware this is so far sounding very video gamey with chapters kinda short. sorry about that.


End file.
